Alright so here's the story with the car.
I previously owned a 2000 ford escort zx2, that decided to seize on me 2 days prior to going to Air Force basic training back in 2008. While being gone for 5 months, I decided that my brother could have my escort as long as he paid for a new engine and the labor, which really wasn't a bad deal for him, since the car was still worth at least 2500-3000.\
So I started looking into what kind of car I wanted and what I was willing to spend. Don't get me wrong, if anyone has driven one of those, they will agree with me that it is a fun car to drive and very peppy(manual transmission).
But it was time to grow up.
I was looking at something with more ummmpphhh.
And that is when I came across 2 cars. The 09 mustang gt, and the 09 wrx. Both about the same price, both about the same power, but the wrx just beat it all around. AWD, awesome for winter, which was my main concern, and fuel economy. Along with any other specification except for raw hp.
I returned from my training on a saturday evening, so the dealer wasn't open until monday. Scheduled a test drive that day, I was instantly hooked. I researched this car so much, that my only question to the sales rep was "how do you pop the hood?" I was giving HIM the specs of this car and asking him those questions to see how much he knew, and wasn't very impressed, but hey, I wanted that car.
First thing that was done was the sound system. I took my Kenwood head unit out of my Escort, bought my brother a cd player for it, and put the kenwood in my wrx. Changed the door speakers to rockford fosgate power 6.5 shallows(changing to power 6.5's this summer), and power tweeters. Difference was night and day. The Premium speakers that came with the car looked like Styrofoam cups!!!!
A couple of months later I bought a Cobb Accessport and a K/n drop in air filter and flashed stage 1. New found power, but I wanted more....
I finally bit the bullet and decided to complete my sound system by adding an amp and a sub. It was a 500w fosgate power amp, and a 12" P3 Fosgate sub. And actually my amp caught fire last month and rockford fosgate did a warranty for me, however since there was corrosion on the board, they didn't have to do anything. But since snow from the road was the only thing I could use to put it out(after shutting the vehicle off of course) they decided that they would give me a brand new 1000w power amp for $150. Not too shabby.
Next on the list for mods was the rally armor flaps. Being the premium model, the moldings don't fit, and I did some searching and found these puppies. couldn't justify the 15o for the polyurethane, so got the cheepos, but they do exactly what they are supposed to do. Prevent paint chipping on the fenders.
After that was the exhaust. Full turbo back, with an ERZ catted bellmouth downpipe, and the Invidia N1 3" Race catback. Flashed stage 2 with the Accessport and holy smokes!! That was a HUGE difference in both power and noise, and I did also notice a change in fuel economy! by almost 2mpg...increase! I'm not sure, but probably from me not wanting it to be too loud keeps my foot off of the gas a little bit more....
Then the fuel pump was changed. I bought the Walbro 255lph pump and that little thing is loud as F!! Trying to get it to fit in the housing was quite a pain and it does take time, so anyone looking to change to an aftermarket pump, always allow more time than you think, so in case it isn't as easy as it should be...you'll still get it done.
Then my motor blew....ringlands on 4 were cracked and completely off 25% around the piston. Shorty can attest to this. Was able to get that replaced with the gracious help of Evergreen, thanks guys.
And finally, after breaking in the engine for a while now, I have my tbe back on the car with a Grimmspeed 3 port EBCS, which is tuned for. If anyone wants to get one of these, your car must be tuned or you will be asking for lots of trouble and money...
And here are some pictures...
DIRTY!!!!
in between lgt sbr and bigd003
CLEAN!!!!!
DRVSDWZ
